Field Day: Batting pratice, catch on the field and lunch in the clubhouse

 

On Monday afternoon I arrived at PNC Park giddy like it was opening day. It’s only been a week since the Pirates played their last home game of the 2010 season, but to me, it has seemed much longer than that.

As a season ticket holder I was invited to “Field Day” at the ballpark. We were invited to take batting practice, shag balls and have lunch on the field. It was such a cool experience so I wanted to share it with you guys.

My first stop was the vistors dugout (Previously, when I got the VIP tour by FSN, I had a photo taken in the Pirates’ dugout).

 

My next stop was to take batting pratice on the field. It was starting to rain so I figured I would only get a few swings in. 

 

 

Ahh. So many beauties to choose from. 

With only one person in front of me, the rain started pretty heavy and we were moved into the indoor batting cages. (Just my luck!) But don’t worry, I didn’t let it rain on my parade.

 

Right before my turn: We got to use the players bats and helmets.

 

The machine was throwing way off the plate and it took about 10-15 pitches before I was given a pitch to hit. I connected with a few, which I was pretty proud of. I grew up as a pitcher so needless to say, I wasn’t very good at batting. The next round, Joe the Pirates’ in-game announcer threw to me and he had to jump out of the way a few times. (Sorry Joe!) He did throw throw a little inside and nailed me on the side of my kneecap. It’s already starting to bruise but I shook it off and launched the neck pitch. I was congratulated by some of the guys watching. I can hang with the boys too!

Here are some close ups of a few of the bats that we were allowed to use.

 

 

 

 

After batting practice we were taken into the visitors’ clubhouse for lunch. (Apparently, the Pirates clubhouse still had some players stuff in it so that is why we had to eat in the visitors instead. Ross Ohlendorf was spotted walking in the tunnels and a few others were also at the ballpark when we were there.)

Another point I wanted to make. I found out about the firing of John Russell while hanging out in the clubhouse. How weird is that?

Anyways, here are some views of the visitors’ clubhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

I ventured around the clubhouse and spotted the bathrooms, weight room and training room.

 

 

 

After I was done adventuring around the clubhouse, I made my way over to “my locker”. Where I sat and ate. I even hung up my purse and backpack to make it more homey, but there was one thing missing. Ah. My name! Oh yes, the baseball nerd in me put my name in the slot. Hey, all the guys in the clubhouse got a kick out of it.

 

 

 

The rain never stopped so we weren’t allowed to go back out on the field for catch and to shag balls. So i wondered back out to the dugout to stare at the gorgeous stadium one last time. I’ll miss you PNC Park, until next year. XO